Traditional Caddo Potter

Although I originally set out to find an art form that I was comfortable with and would be inspired by, for myself, I ended up discovering an ancient art form that would benefit not just myself, but the generations of Caddo people that would come after me. I feel that eventually they will see the benefit from its rediscovery. But also, I quickly realized the need to make public the distinction of our ancient pottery legacy for the sake of those Caddo that would pick up the craft. The Native American art world in the American Southeast is much different from that of the Southwest that I grew up loving. So many Native American artists are confused about what is their tribe’s specific legacy and traditional art form that many claim a broad spectrum of tribes in the region by creating artwork under the umbrella of “Mississippian” or “Southeastern Ceremonial.” It became apparent that the Caddo’s specific and unique pottery heritage is in danger of being misrepresented in the art world and to collectors. Making it all the more obvious was that I found out there was only one active Caddo member practicing pottery making, Jereldine Redcorn. I felt like although she was successful in reviving the lost art of our Caddo pottery, there is only so much one person can do and it was then that I decided that I could help expand and help spread our knowledge and our experiences so that our beautiful pottery tradition could be reborn and survive for all time, rather than become lost again in the earth

Little Pomerania and Other Stories

The stories in this thesis represent a portion of the work I have done during my time as a student in the creative writing program at the University of Maryland. They were ultimately chosen for their thematic links and because they--I feel--best represent the writer I have become over the last three years. Collectively, the stories deal with class, communication, culture, disappointment, displacement, marriage, and maturity, sometimes all in the same story. While each story is meant to stand alone, it is arranged here in a deliberate order, relative to the others, as there is a discernible arc

Dendrochronological Studies of white spruce in the northern Yukon, Canada

This thesis investigates the variation of ring widths from 23 white spruce (Picea glauca) treeline chronologies located along the Dempster Highway (61-68°N), bracketing the position of the classical TTHH site (65.33°N) in the Yukon. Relationships between the 18 strongest chronologies and mean monthly/seasonal temperatures from Dawson over the 1900-2000 period were examined using correlation analyses. Ring-width chronologies were commonly negatively correlated with prior summer temperatures over the entire 20th century but most strongly in the 1950-2000 period. However, several sites had positive relationships with summer temperatures in the 1900-1950 period and much weaker or negative relationships with summer temperatures over the 1951-2000 period indicating an apparent “divergent” response over the 20th century. “Responder analysis” of three highly replicated sites indicated two were dominated by strong negative relationships with summer temperatures in the late 20th century but the northernmost site contained trees that maintained a positive relationship with summer temperatures in the late 20th century